Lopetegui thinks Spain has been dealt the hardest group

The Spanish coach, Julen Lopetegui, said today that the group B in which Spain and Portugal were placed, is "without any doubt", the most difficult of them all for the World Cup in Russia.

"For me, without any doubt, we’ll play against the European champions, one of the best teams in the world," Lopetegui told journalists in the mixed zone at the end of the draw in the Kremlin Palace.

Lopetegui stressed that the squad led by Fernando Santos has “experienced players" who are among the best in their positions, to which he added "has two very good emergent generations".

He could not avoid referring to the star of Real Madrid and Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo, although he recalled that "he plays in a great team with great players".

"All teams are more than a player, but obviously, Cristiano Ronaldo is a player known to all, one of the best players in history," he said.

In relation to Morocco, he recalled that in the qualifying phase they eliminated Ivory Coast, one of the best African teams of recent years, and highlighted the "magnificent work" done by his coach, Hervé Renard.

"And then there's Iran, which was the first country to qualify for the World Cup, a team that has not conceded a goal in the qualification phase," he said.

The Spanish coach also stressed that the Iranian coach and former Madrid coach, the Portuguese Carlos Queiroz, "is a coach with great experience."

"All this is going to make the group very hard and difficult," he said.

Regarding the fact of playing the first game in the southern city of Sochi and then having to move to the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad and then on to Kazan, in the Volga, he considered that their itinerary, taking into account the sheer size of Russia, is "pretty balanced."